Linking Environmental Politics to Development

This course has greatly broadened my scope of knowledge on environmental regulations, international conferences, the politics surrounding various issues. I entered this class with a defined interest in environmentalism and sustainability, but I knew nothing about the different definitions of those two words, the contrasting perspectives, and criticisms of different approaches to handling the environmental crisis that strikes our planet.
My focus in SIS is International Development, but that does not at all make this course irrelevant to my studies. I have learned about the linkages between environmental degradation and development issues such as environmental displacement, issues with food aid, and how consumerism in affluent countries hurts developing countries. Reading literature by scholars like Aldo Leopold, Bill McKibben, Michael Maniates, and others, ha given me vast insight into the realm of environmental politics, and provided me with the right tools to analyze how this all relates to developing economies. Since I chose to work on a group project throughout the semester, I have spent a lot of time looking in to ways that activism spurs social change to positively impact the environment. My experience showed me the challenges one faces in activist movements to make lasting changes on a college campus, which I also had the opportunity to hear more about from Bill McKibben and Lt. Dan Choi on Saturday at Power Shift. I drew many parallels to my experience and the global climate change conferences and legislation developments we discuss in class. In both situations, (although mine on a much smaller scale), multiple parties are involved and affected by the proposed change I wanted, so that entails many steps and different people to consider. Finding out that I could not achieve my goal due one simple contract was quite disappointing, but also woke up me up to the reality. Contracts act as binding agreements between two agents, and are necessary for this capitalist society to function—another common theme with my experience and the experience that global actors play in efforts to reduce climate change.

I will take all of these experiences with me in my (anticipated) career in international development and activism.